


Half Awake

by Museless_Fanfiction



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gay Sex, I was literally half awake when I did this, M/M, Sex, Smut, Yaoi, it’s gay, lotor isn’t fucking evil in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-04-19 14:12:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Museless_Fanfiction/pseuds/Museless_Fanfiction
Summary: The title makes sense because I was half awake soLotor and Lance find each other on the deck when they can't sleep, so they begin to talk, which leads to a moment between them, and something has been sparked between Lance and Lotor. Something new to the emperor.





	1. Chapter 1

Traveling with Voltron to help defend the Galra empire seemed like the best course of action. Sitting around at a base in meeting after meeting wasn’t Lotor’s way, yes he knew it was important, but he would rather rule from the front lines, speak briefly to generals over the short video held meetings- or just his new selected advisors. He had his own ship docked at the castle of lions, which would prove to be more than helpful in battles if Voltron alone couldn’t take the heat. He had his own room on the ship, and after everything that happened between them, Galra, Voltron, His ship, Zarkon… it only made sense that he be part of the team. They were quite the amusing bunch, and he felt like they truly were friends at this point. Allaura even smiled at him from time to time. There were no more hard glares unless he suggested something dangerous, but everyone treated everyone that way. Other than missions, it was smiles all around… they were good company in dark times. 

Especially the red Paladin, who, as he had yet to extract the story from, for some reason bared the blue armor. He knew that Lance had once piloted the blue lion, but why not change uniform? A story for another day. 

It was late in the evening, despite the fact they were in space, everyone seemed to have a set sleep schedule. Lotor, who was standing in the console room, wasn’t having any such luck. Sleep didn’t come easily to the prince… or the king, now, as he was. Emperor. Ruler. His blue and yellow eyes focused out on the stars, looking past reflection in the altean glass as he viewed the stars. 

“Lotor?” Came a frail and sleep trudged voice from behind him, along with the sound of someone possibly rubbing their eyes. The Galran glanced over his shoulder at the speaker, Lance, and partially turned his body to face the boy, who was clutching a pillow to his chest.

“You should be resting.”  
“And…? So should you.” 

The pair stared at one another blankly for a moment before Lotor turned his attention back towards the vastness of space before them. “Were you unable to sleep?” He drew out cautiously. Lotor knew somethings were deep with the Paladin, though he was the most troublesome and clumsy, he was also the most insecure and morale complex. Traits that often shadowed one another. While Lotor didn’t exactly pity the boy, in fact, he admired Lance, he did feel a part of something in his stomach as the boy turned his gaze up to him. There was sadness in those eyes. A sadness Lotor knew all too well. Self-doubt. 

“I see.” The man said, needing no further explanation than that look. Lance’s eyes widened and his brows furrowed.

“See what? I didn’t even say anything!” He whined both hands wrapped tightly around his pillow now, and then his eyes averted Lotor’s, going to the ground. “I didn't think anyone else was up. Normally no one is, but I kinda forget you never sleep.”

“Sleep is hard to come by for some. Seems tonight you’re having more trouble than usual. Would you like to…” The man cleared his throat kid speech, earning an accusatory glare from the shorter male for the awkward pause, “... confide in me? I am as good with my ears as I am my words.”

“... I dunno, your words are kinda lame. I can’t understand half of what you say when I’m awake, so right now I can barely English, Lord Legolas.” Lance said with one hand on his hip, a smile appearing for the briefest of moments before fading once more… “Sorry, even my jokes are lame right now.”

“It’s quite alright, you’re tired, and obviously you have large personal bothers floating through your mind. Better here than on the battlefield.” The taller male encouraged, gently placing his hand on Lance’s back, “You and I both like to watch the stars when we can’t sleep.” he pointed out, looking at Lance’s reflection and meeting the boy’s eyes once Lance finally looked up again. The red Paladin squeezed his pillow against him once more, eyes meeting with Lotor’s.

“Why can’t you sleep?” He asked softly, eyes changing from sadness to worry. Lotor wished the boy wasn’t so easy to read, it would make it a lot easier to deny him an answer if he didn’t know if Lance actually cared. This human was particularly good at drawing out people’s emotions, consulting them, and letting them confide in him. So far Lotor had only been able to do that for Allaura, but he hoped he could have a chance in the future with the others… to show he cared, at least that he saw them as friends. Here it was the other way, for now.

“Nightmares,” He admitted finally, giving a small sigh, “I’m haunted by my past misdeeds or acts done upon me. I have lived for a very long time, my childhood is chiseled into my mind. Zarkon did not yet hate me those years. Training was brutal, and all I wanted to do was please my father, and when I realized that was impossible…” he trailed off and glared at the ground, fists clenched, “I played along, trying to make plans, to leave, to take over. But with nowhere to go and no resources for an uprising all you can do is play your part until you finally have a shot.”

Lance had scooted closer to Lotor’s surprise when the Galra leader huffed out a breath and looked back to the earthling, brows furrowing as Lance slowly, hesitantly, reached out and grabbed his hand. “You did what any person would have. A good person, who just wanted to make it out. I can’t imagine the things you went through… being his son sounds like the hardest job that has, or will ever exist.” He drew out slowly, scuffing his slippers against the ground, “You’re a really decent guy.”

Lotor had to bite his jaw to prevent a smile at that. It was touching, and few things sincerely got to him in such a way. Lance was the first to say that. Not ‘You’re not so bad,’ or ‘Eh there’s worse out there,” … it was sad that was the only compliment he had really ever received. “Why can’t you sleep?” He asked back instead, glancing at their hands as Lance finally pulled his back. 

“Homesick again.” He mumbled into his pillow, resting his face on it, both arms tightening around it. “My family knows I’m okay thanks to commander Holt by now but… I still haven’t seen them since we were suddenly blasted out into space by a giant robot cat, no offense to Blue.” 

“Would talking about Earth help?” 

Lance looked up at Lotor sheepishly, pouting, “There’s a lot to talk about. Once you get me started I won’t stop until I’ve said all I know.”

“That’s fine. Let’s go to your room. Perhaps getting it all out of your kind and into the open will clear your head enough to sleep.” Lotor suggested and gestured with his hand for Lance to lead the way, and he spoke as he started walking, already explaining rain, and the ocean, and how the water cycle worked, hands moving about just as frantically as his words. They reached his room and Lance had barely taken a break to breathe, shutting his door behind him and Lotor and sitting on his bed, patting it for the man to sit next to him as he scooted against the corner, curling up under the blankets and still avidly speaking. Lotor didn’t mind one bit. He loved it. He loved the way it sounded, such complicated systems and diversity, such a simple-minded way of explaining, yet keeping all the important details that brought the mental images to life… how he had a bittersweet smile as he fondly spoke of his planet, eyes occasionally locking if he wasn’t focused on his hands.

After a while Lance began to speak much slower, yawning, turning, and eventually falling asleep mid-speech, head turned to the side and breathing slow. Lotor smiled at the sight, shaking his head with a silent laugh as he carefully stood from his spot, pulling the covers up over Lance more and walked towards the door, pausing in the entryway to look at the Paladin over his shoulder. He was endlessly glad he did because he stayed long enough to hear the last words of Lance’s earth lecture.

“I can’t wait for you to see it too.”


	2. Pool Games

“HRAAA!” Came Lotor’s battle cry as he gripped his sword tightly with both hands, running towards his intended target with sweat dotting his face, breath heavy from the struggle of the fight. He would not be defeated! He would not go down like this! 

A staff met his stomach and he was knocked down before he could get a strike in, hitting the ground with a long groan of pain, leaning up on shaky hands as his sword clattered off to the side, “Damn you!” He hissed through clenched teeth, huffing as he stood on wobbly legs, “End training sequence.” 

The altean gladiator before him shut down and the fugitive prince turned his gaze up, his hair was a mess like the rest of him, a rare occurrence, and he staggered to move towards the door, wiping his face with his hand. “Stupid training simulators.” He growled, just as he heard the door open and footsteps swiftly approach.

“Lotor!” 

He looked up at who was hailing him, lighting up immediately at the sight of Lance, a soft smile spreading across his face, “Were you watching the gladiator beat me up?”

“I wouldn’t call it that. None of us have gotten to a level that high yet, and you were at it for a while, I’ve never seen anyone take it on like that. Kinda cool.”

“I have a lot of stamina, and that gladiator is still nothing compared to some Galra soldiers. You all should be well past me, Paladin.” Lotor said and pointing his sword at Lance, “Perhaps you would like to cross swords? Train up a bit as well?”

Lance felt his face go red, and rubbed his neck with a nervous laugh, “Cross swords, yeah, maybe another time.” Lotor’s brow arched at the reaction… what? Had he said something wrong? “Look I just wanted to say thanks for last night man. It meant a lot to… have someone listen for a while.” Lance drew the words out, glancing at the ground and shrinking away against himself before sheepishly looking back up to Lotor, who was smiling brightly at him. He felt his heart flutter at the sight. Here he was talking to a guy that seemed to once want to kill them, someone who was badass with his fighting skills as well, and someone who he still didn’t fully trust… But damn was this guy cool. 

“Oh, think nothing of it. I quite enjoyed your descriptions of your planet Earth. It sounds like a beautiful and mysterious planet. I look forward to visiting after we end the civil war brewing within my empire.” He said and sheathed his sword, placing his hand on his hip then. “Speaking to your leaders and bringing them to date is of importance as well. Earth sounds like it has a lot of information that could benefit the Galra, and they could benefit from us as well.”

“Yeah yeah- that all sounds good politics and trade and junk, but I call dibs on giving you the grand tour.”

“I look forward to that the most.” 

Lance found himself smiling up at Lotor, arms slowly crossing over his chest as he looked up at the man, still blushing a slight pink. “Come on, you look like you could use a dip in the pool.”

“... pool?” Lotor’s eyes lit up, dilating like a cat’s in their inquisitive way, Head cranes to the side slightly with a grin tugging at one corner of his lip. “Sounds entertaining.”

“Hush and follow me.” Lance rolled his eyes, making a gesture with his hand for the man to follow as he walked from the training room. Lotor supposed he would humor the earthling and tag along, simply for the sake of experience, after all, there would be more time for training later. Lotor gave a nod and followed behind Lance as requested, speaking as they went along. 

“Pools on Earth are on the ground, I have no idea why Alteans put them on the ceiling, but Keith and I got it sorted out last time so now there’s two pools, the one on top and the normal Earth one.” He said and made a diagram with his hands as if that would help.

“That still doesn’t explain what a pool is.”

“Oh… Well, it’s water. You get almost naked and kinda wade around in it to relax. Have you never been swimming before?”

“Ah, I have, in the ponds of Gaundlook. The planet is long gone now though, and that was in a pond that held ceremonial sentiment.” Lotor said and strung his hand through his hair, fixing it with ease, “We had clothes on though. How do I know you’re not just trying to see me naked? You seem like the peeping type.” Lotor teased playfully, brow arched up as he crossed his arms behind his back, and Lance’s jaw dropped with furrowed brows as he tried to think of some sort of retort, but a huff came out instead.

“I don’t like your tone, mister, I don’t want to see a naked Galra.” He shuddered, “You guys probably have some freaky things going on downstairs.”

“Oh? Have you seen a naked Galra before?” Lotor pressed more curiously, “Or Altean? Since I am a half-breed, certain parts may not be exclusively on Galra or Alteans-“

“Don’t- don't describe it.” Lance slapped his hand over his eyes, as if it would block the mental images running through his head. He let out a squeak of surprise as a hand clasped on his shoulder gently, and he glanced up at Lotor, who had an innocent smile with his eyes curled up, much like a cat. 

“I’m only teasing. Don’t act so offended~” He said and Lance rolled his eyes with a grunt of response, opening the door to the pool room and clearing his throat, gesturing towards the water, not walking past the doorway. 

“There uh… have fun, I guess…” Lance said and turned his gaze to the ground, rubbing at his elbow as he caught Lotor’s look of disappointment.

“Will you not join me? Or is it some sort of tradition to not swim with another? You earthlings seem very shy about your bodies, I’ll understand-“

“No! I mean… Yeah, I guess we are, but … I’ll be back I need my swimming trunks. Well they’re not actually swimming trunks I mean I didn’t get to pack any before we were shot into space it’s just my boxers but I mean it’s pretty much the same- You know what I’m gonna stop talking and go get them!” Lance darted off down the hall quickly, heart racing as he disappeared around the corner, pausing and grabbing the wall. What was that?! He didn’t normally act so flustered unless someone was hitting on him! Was… Was Lotor hitting on him? Oh… no way. No, no he was just messing around, he even said so! Lance peeked back around the corner, catching Lotor shrugging and walking into the room, taking off his chest piece and weapon belt and laying them aside. He went to do as he said, and retrieve his boxers. 

Lotor had stripped down to his trousers, seeing no harm in getting them wet since it was just water. They had gone through much worse and come out fine. With all the short fur along his body, his normally graceful and fluid movements were out of the question. He was slow in the water, but he didn’t mind. It was fun just to wade in it, float on his back on the top of it and focus on his breathing. He had just closed his eyes when he heard footsteps running and a high pitched male voice screaming, “Cannonball!” Followed by a shadow leaping over him, causing his eyes to pop open- only to close once more as the pool rippled and a large splash of water went over him. 

Lance had jumped into the pool, bare aside from a set of blue ‘boxers’ as he had called them… they looked rather short and exposing on the human for a race so normally covering with their bodies. He remembered how they had all looked at him the first time he removed his torso piece just to have wounds looked at. Flushed faces all around. Lance hadn’t been there for that, but perhaps his expression would have been the same? Even though now it was fine? How confusing. 

“Having fun?” Lotor asked with a small chuckle under his breath as Lance exploded to the surface, laughing joyously simply from the splash, soaked. The earthling was virtually hairless, unlike the other males he had noticed. Shaved legs, primed. What an odd ritual. It made him much more fluid in the water though, Lance would easily outswim him. 

“Yep!” Came the red paladin’s cheery answer as he swam closer, glancing down and blushing faintly as he stopped, “You know uh… There’s pool games we could play?”

“Games? Sure, I’m good at following directions.”

“Alright! Uh… Marco Polo is an easy one…” Lance thought out loud, looking around until the sound of the door opening startled them both, and the sound of feet running. Pidge and Hunk had both decided to join in on the fun, not that Lance minded. Lotor watched as Hunk complied with whatever Pidge was demanding he do, and picked her up and threw her into the pool before he jumped in himself, and as they both bobbed to the surface they rapidly splashed one another why talking to Lance.

“Was checking on the cameras and saw you two in here, thought you could use some company!”

“Yeah! Great! I was just about to see if Lotor wanted to play some pool games. Marco Polo?”

Hunk perked up and poked Pidge, rubbing his chin with one hand, “Well… We shouldn’t call it that anymore. I mean we’re in space. We can use whatever names we want?”

“Alright how about Lance and McLAME,” Pidge said and raised her hand for a high-five from Hunk who rolled his eyes and splashed her again. Lance huffed and looked at Lotor, who was also pinching his chin in thought. 

“Zarkon and Voltron?” He suggested with a shrug, and everyone perked up. 

“Not it!” Pidge and Hunk called, swimming in opposite directions away from Lance and Lotor.

“Let me explain it to him first!” Lance called back and turned to the galran man. “Okay- so we’re gonna let you be it first. That means you have to tag one of us- but you have to keep your eyes closed and we spin you around. You can only find us by saying ‘Voltron’ and we have to answer with ‘Zarkon’ No one is allowed out of the pool because that just cheating.”

“So I’m listening for you?”  
“Exactly.”  
“So it’s also like listening perception training.”  
“Uh… sure, but just focus on having fun. And if you tag someone then it’s their turn to find us.”  
“Alright. Understood.”

Lance beamed and put his hands on Lotor’s shoulders, and he closed his eyes and then Lance spun him around about three to four times before he swam off. His ears twitched as he listened for the boy in the water. Lotor put his hands in front of him as he started to kick his feet to move, turning his ears to where he heard movement and laughing. “Voltron?” 

“Zarkon!” Came the loud call from all thee paladins. With their new locations locked in place he turned swiftly towards them and kicked off, of course, he was much slower in the water so, by the time he was at where they’d called from, they were virtually on the other side of the pool… Clever… he’d have to think of a way to trap them, single one voice out and urge them towards a corner… where were the corners?

“Voltron!”  
“Zarkon!”

There. Lance’s voice, and then the sound of him pushing himself far away from his position using his feet against a wall. Lotor turned slightly to intercept the boy’s route.

“He’s onto you!” Pidge shouted to Lance, who gasped and sharply turned as to not become trapped… it was too late. Lotor had him cornered, there was only one place to go to avoid being tagged, and unfortunately for Lance, that meant the corner, Lotor was much too tall to swim under, the blue-eyed teen knew he’d be tagged immediately if he tried… His back touched the wall… Lotor was closing in! … 

Quietly as he could Lance began to shuffle away using the wall, sliding against it to avoid the corner trap, but Lotor was smarter than that, he placed his hand on Lance’s chest, smirking as he then opened his eyes, and their deep blue pierced right into Lance, making his heart race. His hand was warm, nails unlike other Galrans, trimmed and short, leaving a slight tingling sensation over him, and he looked up at Lotor with wide expectant eyes.

“I believe it’s your turn.” the man said with an almost knowing smirk, making Lance swallow thickly before he gave a curt nod, and Lotor pulled his hand away.

The game went on for a long time before the group finally decided they wanted to dry off and eat, and everyone cleaned up in their rooms before meeting on the bridge.

“You all look like you’ve been having fun,” Shiro observed as he approached the group, and Pidge beamed.

“Turns our Lotor is really good at Marco Polo. He’s slow in the water, thought we had an advantage, he got all of us at least twice each.” Pidge said as she adjusted her glasses and put her arms behind her head, leaning back in her seat. Shiro gave a puzzled look to the galran, who shrugged with a smile.

“That’s because he’s got super hearing, look at his ears!” Lance chimed and Hunk shrugged.

“I use every bit of information to form a plan. Though my eyes were closed, I had many other tools at my disposal. I suppose it was fun.” Lotor said and smiled up at Shiro, “You should join us next time.”

“I’m glad you all had fun but it’s time we started planning our next mission.” Allaura cut in with her arms crossed over her chest. All eyes went to the princes as she pulled up footage of Galra ships firing on one another, “We have work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will probably have smut lmao, also might be the last chapter, this is just a trial run for the big Lotor x Lance slow burn I'm working on.


	3. END

This is literally just an author’s note at current, letting you know, Replaced and Recycled, the reason I wrote ‘this’ two chapter thing

Is finally up! :D  
Go enjoy the lancelot fic  
I may add a smut scene here eventually still


End file.
